US9083839B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents
Imaging device Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US9083839B2 US9083839B2 US13/742,133 US201313742133A US9083839B2 US 9083839 B2 US9083839 B2 US 9083839B2 US 201313742133 A US201313742133 A US 201313742133A US 9083839 B2 US9083839 B2 US 9083839B2
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- image
- illumination
- reactor
- sensor
- capture device
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Active - Reinstated, expires
Links
- 238000003384 imaging method Methods 0.000 title abstract description 16
- 238000005286 illumination Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 77
- 239000004020 conductor Substances 0.000 claims description 13
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims description 7
- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 abstract description 11
- 230000001815 facial effect Effects 0.000 abstract description 2
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 10
- 230000003466 anti-cipated effect Effects 0.000 description 6
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 5
- 238000013507 mapping Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000002457 bidirectional effect Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000001066 destructive effect Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000000835 fiber Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000027455 binding Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009739 binding Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002131 composite material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000000151 deposition Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000008021 deposition Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011161 development Methods 0.000 description 1
- 229910003460 diamond Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010432 diamond Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005265 energy consumption Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000003344 environmental pollutant Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005530 etching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229920000642 polymer Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 238000007639 printing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000011253 protective coating Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000011160 research Methods 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/024—Details of scanning heads ; Means for illuminating the original
- H04N1/028—Details of scanning heads ; Means for illuminating the original for picture information pick-up
- H04N1/02815—Means for illuminating the original, not specific to a particular type of pick-up head
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/024—Details of scanning heads ; Means for illuminating the original
- H04N1/028—Details of scanning heads ; Means for illuminating the original for picture information pick-up
- H04N1/02805—Details of scanning heads ; Means for illuminating the original for picture information pick-up with photodetectors arranged in a two-dimensional array
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
- H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
- H04N1/19—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays
- H04N1/195—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using multi-element arrays the array comprising a two-dimensional array or a combination of two-dimensional arrays
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
- H04N2201/04—Scanning arrangements
- H04N2201/0402—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207
- H04N2201/0434—Arrangements not specific to a particular one of the scanning methods covered by groups H04N1/04 - H04N1/207 specially adapted for scanning pages of a book
Definitions
- this imaging device to use low levels of illumination to capture images, so as to reduce both power requirements of the imaging device and the destructive effects of intense illumination upon the images being captured.
- FIG. 1 is an overview image of the full device indicating the main component parts.
- FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the flexible sensor revealing its component parts.
- FIG. 3 is a surface-view representational portion of the sensor reactor field
- FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of a portion of the sensor showing details of the sensor function.
- FIG. 5 illustrates an alternate shape of the reactors and their related shields.
- FIG. 6 is a cross section, portion view of a sensor with the sensor of FIG. 2 mirrored to illustrating bi-directional imaging capability.
- FIG. 7 a is a perspective view of the flexible illumination channel together with its illumination module.
- FIG. 7 b is a cross section view of the components of FIG. 7 a.
- FIG. 7 c is the same cross section of FIG. 7 b showing an alternate illumination option.
- FIG. 8 is a cross section view of a bi-directional illumination channel with a shared illumination module.
- FIG. 9 is a logic sketch illustrating possible control functions of the device.
- Typical document imaging devices are either large, bulky devices such as office copying machines, or small, low resolution, hand-held devices that are difficult to accurately control and align over the image, and that require that images be held very flat and stable as they are scanned.
- Most all existing document imagers are based on the principle of scanning the document, that is the image is captured section by section as a recording device is mechanically or optically pulled, or scanned over the image.
- Cameras can be used to capture document pages without scanning, but have obvious problems of position, alignment, parallax, lens distortion of flat images and more—especially when multiple documents are to be scanned and there needs to be accurate justification or alignment between document pages as in copying multiple pages of a book or manuscript.
- Adequate illumination is also a problem for most camera imaging. It is not a problem for office copiers, but they use large amounts of energy to produce high levels of illumination that can damage delicate documents as they are captured. Curvature of document pages, in particular bound documents, as they are copied is problematic for all methods of document image capture.
- the device of FIG. 1 shows a scanning system that solves the problems listed above.
- the device consists of a thin, flexible sensor 1 attached to a control case 2 .
- the flexible sensor can either be laid over and held face to face with a document or artifact to capture its image, or slipped between the pages of a book, manuscript or the like, conforming to the curve of a pages to capture the pages' images.
- the control case may include a graphic display 3 of the captured image and a control panel 4 with various controls to capture and manipulate the image.
- the device may be either plug-in or battery powered 5 .
- the flexible sensor provides both a source of illumination to the image being captured and a method of capturing said image.
- Said method of capture comprises a field of reactors disbursed across the facial area of sensor, the output of which produce a dot-pattern capture of the intended image which is passed to some manner of storage device. It is known that the density of the said field of reactors will control the fidelity of the image capture.
- the thickness and flexibility of the sensor is controlled by both the characteristics of the materials used for its various layers and the thickness of these different materials. If so desired, it is anticipated that the sensor unit total thickness might be less than 3 mm.
- FIG. 2 is a cross section of the sensor through a reactor segment.
- Layer 11 is a protective coating for conductors 12 , and the conductors are in contact with reactors 13 .
- the reactors are positioned within light shields 16 in the light channel 14 so as to optically isolate the edges and bottom of the reactors from the illumination within the light channel. Atop both the illumination channel and the reactors, window layer 15 provides space for light 41 to travel from the illumination channel to the image and reflect back onto the tops of the reactors.
- Each reactor has at least two conductors 23 , 24 in contact therewith, with a gap 22 between them across the reactor to transmit signal changes in reactor output.
- Reactors are made of materials that react to illumination. For most document image capture, the illumination used and reactor properties would be matched to the frequencies of conventional light, but it is fully anticipated that for other image capture or forensic purposes, alternate illumination frequencies and reactor properties might be preferable.
- the light channel provides illumination to the image being recorded, and the material of the reactors responds to the amount of reflected radiance from the image in greater or lesser degree as controlled by the amount of reflected illumination striking the reactors.
- the image is white or otherwise reflective, a substantial percentage of the illumination will be reflected back onto the surface of the reactor, and the reactor will give a strong signal.
- the image is dark or otherwise less reflective, less light is reflected and the reactor will give a weak signal.
- the reactors comprise any materials that may affix to the sensor and which react to illumination in some known manner that may be sensed and recorded.
- illumination might cause reactors of one material to form a voltage potential which would be sensed by their conductors and passed back to a processing module.
- the reactors could be of a different material which changes its resistance when illuminated; this change in resistance could be sensed and recorded.
- a range of reflected illumination on the reactors provides a range of readings so that the device would have the option to record shades of reflected illumination if so designed within the recording electronics of the imaging device.
- FIG. 3 shows circular shielded reactors
- FIG. 5 shows diamond shaped reactors and shields 51 and 52 that provide increased illumination surface on the illumination channel and reduced reactor surface area. It is not a purpose of this invention to determine the exact shape of the shielded reactors. Reactor shapes illustrated are for reference only. Optimal design of the shielded reactors may be determined by the specific purpose for which the device will be used, as well as the chosen reactor material and illumination source.
- a bidirectional imager would allow insertion of the sensor between two facing images in close proximity, such as between the pages of a book, between the layers of a scroll or between any other facing images, and the capture of both facing images at the same time or in rapid succession depending on the program instructions of the control circuitry.
- the resultant two said captured images would be as well registered, or aligned, with each other as were the pages in the book or manuscript when the capture was made.
- a bi-directional imaging device 60 is possible as shown in FIG. 6 .
- the image to be captured 17 remains as before. We may say that 17 is one of the two pages between which the sensor is inserted; image 67 would be the facing page.
- Capturing image 17 is as already described.
- Capturing image 67 is similar and uses illumination channel 64 to provide the illumination which passes through window 65 and reflects off image 67 and onto reactor 63 inside optical shield 66 .
- Conductor protection 61 is common to both directions of capture. The response of reactors 63 to illumination is transmitted by conductors 62 to the recording electronics in the control case.
- the illumination channel is a flexible sheet of material that captures radiance at its edges, distributes that light 76 throughout the sheet, and retransmits the light out of the sheet 77 evenly across its face surface.
- This principle is well known and practiced, and most commonly understood in the form of fiber optics. As used in this imager, and for the purposes of clear understanding, it would be accurate to change the term ‘fiber optics’ as used in other devices to ‘page optics’ or ‘sheet optics’ as used in this application.
- An illumination source 78 inside the illumination module 72 is directed at one edge 74 of said illumination channel, and the other edges of the illumination channel are preferably silvered or otherwise shielded to keep a maximum amount of illumination trapped within the sheet's perimeter. Since the illumination channel is preferably very thin, in order to get more illumination into the light channel's interior, the edge being illuminated may be flared 75 to give an increased edge surface and subsequent greater radiance capture.
- the illumination source 78 is preferably a low-power, high-illumination device such as an LED or similar device, and may be a single frequency source to give only a single-color gray-shade capture, or may be a multiple frequency source to allow substantially increased capture information.
- a possible document scanning method to capture color would be to provide a red source 78 R, a green source 78 G and a blue source 78 B so that 3 sequential scans—each made with one or the other of these illumination sources, could be made of any image to capture the color content of said image.
- An single illumination source that could have its radiance characteristics changed or otherwise controlled would also serve this purpose. As previously described, different light sources and reactor responses may be used to achieve particular imaging goals.
- a single-color illumination source is used—usually white light, and different sensor characteristics are provided to separate the different color characteristics of the reflected image.
- Camera sensors as a rule, only react to levels of light and dark, and usually an array of sensors has portions of the sensors filtered in various was to determine the color information of an image.
- the response of the reactors remains uniform, and it is the illuminating light source that is changed to give different reactor responses for different illumination characteristics.
- illumination channels 14 and 64 may be the same component. Light may emanate equally from both faces of the illumination channel, and there is no inherent need to have separate illumination channels in a bidirectional imager. It is only for clarity of explanation that they have been illustrated and described as separate components.
- the illumination channel of bi-directional sensor 80 utilizes a second, mirror image of the illumination channel as previously described.
- Illumination module 81 may contain a single shared illumination source 81 or multiple illumination sources as previously described, or have different light and reactor characteristics in each imaging direction.
- Operational logic of the device is illustrated in FIG. 9 .
- the illumination source When the illumination source is turned on, light is passed through the illumination channel as previously described, and all reactors 92 are affected at the same time and for the same duration by the illumination emanating from the light channel.
- Each reactor has its own conductor paths 93 a , 93 b leading to sequence module 95 .
- the sequence module scans the inputs from every reactor in a predetermined order and passes the sequenced information to the mapping unit 96 to store the inputs as a dot pattern or pixel map.
- the mapping unit functions primarily as a memory device that maps each reactor's reading to a corresponding address in the mapping unit's memory. It is understood and anticipated that all the reactors could also be wired more directly to there respective location in the mapping unit.
- Imaging electronics is well known and many standards already exist. We are making no claims about the electronic details of storing or manipulating the image after capture.
- the mapping unit 96 holds an unaltered map of the reactor readings as the raw map, and passes a copy of the map to memory unit 97 .
- the memory unit's image of the map may be adjusted and manipulated by the controls of image controller 98 .
- the image controller could make adjustments such as brightness, contrast and other image manipulations. It is anticipated that information external to the device could be brought in through the controller, through conventional ports, so that external information could be mixed or superimposed over the map to make complex composite images.
- the manipulated map of the memory unit is passed both to standard output device 101 and to video display 99 .
- the video display is controlled by video control 100 , which may include controls such as brightness or image magnification.
- the sensor unit is preferably flexible, durable and thin. It is anticipated that know methods may be used to assemble the layers of the sensor, most likely utilizing polymer sheets, and known printing, deposition or etching processes.
Abstract
Description
Claims (9)
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US13/742,133 US9083839B2 (en) | 2013-01-15 | 2013-01-15 | Imaging device |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US13/742,133 US9083839B2 (en) | 2013-01-15 | 2013-01-15 | Imaging device |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20140198353A1 US20140198353A1 (en) | 2014-07-17 |
US9083839B2 true US9083839B2 (en) | 2015-07-14 |
Family
ID=51164909
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US13/742,133 Active - Reinstated 2033-03-20 US9083839B2 (en) | 2013-01-15 | 2013-01-15 | Imaging device |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US9083839B2 (en) |
Citations (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5377022A (en) * | 1993-12-29 | 1994-12-27 | Xerox Corporation | Method and apparatus for page imaging and document movement device |
US20020009238A1 (en) * | 1996-02-14 | 2002-01-24 | Neil C. Bird | Image sensor |
US20050179964A1 (en) * | 2002-07-11 | 2005-08-18 | Yoshihiro Izumi | Thin film phototransistor, active matrix substrate using the phototransistor, and image scanning device using the substrate |
US7548351B2 (en) * | 2005-12-27 | 2009-06-16 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Image reading device and image forming apparatus |
US7787161B2 (en) * | 2005-12-27 | 2010-08-31 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Image reading device and image forming apparatus |
US8020862B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2011-09-20 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device, image forming apparatus and image reading apparatus |
US8020861B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2011-09-20 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device and image forming apparatus |
US8172226B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2012-05-08 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device and image forming apparatus |
-
2013
- 2013-01-15 US US13/742,133 patent/US9083839B2/en active Active - Reinstated
Patent Citations (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5377022A (en) * | 1993-12-29 | 1994-12-27 | Xerox Corporation | Method and apparatus for page imaging and document movement device |
US20020009238A1 (en) * | 1996-02-14 | 2002-01-24 | Neil C. Bird | Image sensor |
US20050179964A1 (en) * | 2002-07-11 | 2005-08-18 | Yoshihiro Izumi | Thin film phototransistor, active matrix substrate using the phototransistor, and image scanning device using the substrate |
US7548351B2 (en) * | 2005-12-27 | 2009-06-16 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Image reading device and image forming apparatus |
US7787161B2 (en) * | 2005-12-27 | 2010-08-31 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Image reading device and image forming apparatus |
US8020862B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2011-09-20 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device, image forming apparatus and image reading apparatus |
US8020861B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2011-09-20 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device and image forming apparatus |
US8172226B2 (en) * | 2006-08-07 | 2012-05-08 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet conveyance device and image forming apparatus |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
US20140198353A1 (en) | 2014-07-17 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US7262763B2 (en) | Image display apparatus and image display method | |
US5920401A (en) | Compact document imager | |
US20070177233A1 (en) | Image reader | |
JP2002176536A (en) | Display and scanning assembly | |
CN109598248A (en) | The operating method and grain recognition device of grain recognition device | |
CN101785319A (en) | Imageing sensor with the color filter array that has panchromatic checkerboard pattern | |
US8965451B2 (en) | Information processing terminal device | |
US20090219580A1 (en) | Scanning system with real-time display unit | |
US8243318B2 (en) | Imaging apparatus having a document planar member with an input operating state | |
CN102077568A (en) | Booklet reading device | |
WO1995004665A1 (en) | Embedded printed data - method and apparatus | |
TW200539684A (en) | Color filter configurations for linear photosensor arrays | |
US9083839B2 (en) | Imaging device | |
JP4399125B2 (en) | Image display device and image display method | |
US20080285094A1 (en) | Uniform illumination for camera based scanning devices | |
de Fremery et al. | Imaging Device | |
JP4586370B2 (en) | Projection display device and projection display method | |
US11644359B2 (en) | Method of reading the result of an electrophoretic assay comprising a digital image indicating the intensity of light emitted by chemiluminescence from the output medium of the electrophoretic assay | |
CN104347089A (en) | Information recording media, information reproduction apparatus, and information reproducing method | |
US20100309533A1 (en) | Method and apparatus for contact image scanning | |
US20150319336A1 (en) | Peripheral with image processing function | |
Okatani et al. | Study of image quality of superimposed projection using multiple projectors | |
Wetzstein | Computational plenoptic image acquisition and display | |
US6211508B1 (en) | Lensless optical system in imaging sensing module | |
JP4637511B2 (en) | Scanning stereoscopic image capturing device |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
STCF | Information on status: patent grant |
Free format text: PATENTED CASE |
|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: MAINTENANCE FEE REMINDER MAILED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: REM.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY |
|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: SURCHARGE FOR LATE PAYMENT, MICRO ENTITY (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: M3554); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY |
|
MAFP | Maintenance fee payment |
Free format text: PAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEE, 4TH YEAR, MICRO ENTITY (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: M3551); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY Year of fee payment: 4 |
|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: MAINTENANCE FEE REMINDER MAILED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: REM.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY |
|
LAPS | Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees |
Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED FOR FAILURE TO PAY MAINTENANCE FEES (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: EXP.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY |
|
STCH | Information on status: patent discontinuation |
Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED DUE TO NONPAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEES UNDER 37 CFR 1.362 |
|
FP | Lapsed due to failure to pay maintenance fee |
Effective date: 20230714 |
|
PRDP | Patent reinstated due to the acceptance of a late maintenance fee |
Effective date: 20231116 |
|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: PETITION RELATED TO MAINTENANCE FEES FILED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: PMFP); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY Free format text: PETITION RELATED TO MAINTENANCE FEES GRANTED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: PMFG); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY Free format text: SURCHARGE, PETITION TO ACCEPT PYMT AFTER EXP, UNINTENTIONAL (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: M3558); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY |
|
MAFP | Maintenance fee payment |
Free format text: PAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEE, 8TH YEAR, MICRO ENTITY (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: M3552); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: MICROENTITY Year of fee payment: 8 |
|
STCF | Information on status: patent grant |
Free format text: PATENTED CASE |